Water, Fire, Lightning, and Shadow
by Giana Nora
Summary: All things have a beginning, even legends. Rated M for language and lemons.
1. Chapter 1: Genisis

**Disclaimer:** I do not own anything in this story except for May Wingyon and Giana Nora

**Water, Fire, Lightning, and Shadow**

If you like stories about where power is what matters, stories where the guy always rescues the girl, then we suggest another book. But, if you like epic tales of great heroes, skilled fighters, and good winning over evil no matter what the cost, then this is the book for you. This is our story, the story of the greatest heroes and heroines known to lombax and human alike, the story of the elementals.

**Chapter one: Genesis**

Long before you or me, before the lombaxi and the humans, even before the universe, there were the three powers (a special class of angel). Eris, representative of diamond, skin colored the cool luster of pearl, her hair was made of pure diamond, her dress was the purest white, she represented the body. Marahoute, power of gold, skin colored a golden sheen, hair made up of fine golden strands, her dress was the softest gold fabric, she represented the soul. And Giana Nora, the angel of silver, her skin was the most beautiful silvery color, her hair was shining silver, like water, she represented the mind. Her dress was a liquid mirror.

The powers were human in appearance, but inside, beat the free heart of a lombax. They had wings that matched their element. They lived in an infinite darkness called the void. Millennia unknown passed before they started to wonder about their surroundings. They decided to build worlds in different sections of the void, the greatest of these worlds was Earth. They decided to make two different species to rule over earth. Eris made humans first, but the way she made them, using dust and stone, should have been enough to send caution to Marahoute and Giana Nora, but they were like children back then.

Marahoute took a small cat, Giana Nora took a human child, they merged the two, the result was a creature with big ears, wrist, ankle, and tail blades, a lifespan of a thousand years, and the ability to run farther than any human. It was called a lombax, but his ears were rounded, and thus he was called Trohoro Gena, which literally means "round-ears". After Trohoro, Giana Nora and Marahoute perfected their methods of creating the lombaxi (with pointed ears), so they used half of the human population to create the lombax population. For twenty years, everyone was happy, and there was peace. During those years, the powers aged themselves into adulthood, they achieved wisdom, logic, and great power. They could have gone on for all eternity, with peace on earth, if Eris had not gained a new attribute, jealousy.

Legend has it, that Eris had a son, a monster born of her jealousy. After his birth, Eris put her great plan into action. First, she pitted the humans against the lombaxi by sending the humans dreams, dreams of the lombaxi as horrible monsters with blood-covered blades, glowing red eyes, and sharp teeth. She gave all the humans the same dream, so when they awoke, they all attacked the lombaxi, some of the lombaxi hid in caves and caverns beneath the earth, others went in a spaceship to look for another home planet.

Giana Nora used her powers to create a world, a planet as far as one can get from Earth, in the Fa'ar galaxy she created the home world, Lombaxia. The first lombax to touch ground there was named king. An earthquake brought two items to the surface where the boy, Arthur Williams, stood. One was a circlet with a silver drop, the other was a beautiful sword, belt, and sheath. With those items, a king and queen would rule Lombaxia, and peace would become theirs.

Back on earth, all was pure chaos. After the lombaxi had left earth, Giana Nora and Marahoute gathered up the remaining lombaxi, and taught them the way of the cat soldiers. Seven years later, they were ready, Nora deemed that all lombaxi, at the age of fifteen, would be brought to the training camp, high on a plain in the mountains, to be trained as cat soldiers, anyone who refused, would be sent to Lombaxia.

Nora and Marahoute marched the cat soldiers to Eris, who stood alone, but she had changed, her eyes were black and cold, her hair was pure coal and carbon, and her skin was as gray as a dead man's flesh, she was the dark diamond. Marahoute, eager to destroy Eris for all that she did, extended her wings, and took off toward Eris! Eris then set upon Marahoute, a curse.

_On an island nation you shall remain,_

_until you are mother same shall you stay._

She was instantly transported to a giant island, never to leave until the curse is complete. One lombax, Kinaru, fled the battle, so Giana Nora cursed him, she made his stripes turn purple and curl, she flattened his tail like a tiger's, he was now, a _nyronoc_.

Nora then ordered the soldiers to run from the battle, for she feared for their safety. Then began the battle between bright and dark, good and evil, silver and coal, mind and body. The two sisters shot toward each other a single beam of energy, corresponding with their elements, silver and darkness. As they fought, the goddesses grew, until they both stood two-hundred feet tall. For three days, the two sisters fought until, Eris's power overtook Nora, she took Nora's silver wings from her back, leaving only a feather. Nora shrunk rapidly, until she was normal-sized, and then, she fell. Eris then disappeared to Nora-knows-where, leaving her sister, wingless.

Nora stood up, her spirit broken, for the true spirit of a lombax is through flight. She picked up the one feather she had left, and held it close to her body, like a mother to a child. She then connected her mind with four cat soldiers. She told them to come to her, and to tell none where they were going. The lombaxi she "sent" to, were Reynolis Cooper, Janice Fox, Trinara Lombaxian, and Kinaru Elrictosu. Nora then rose a giant temple where she stood. When they arrived, she told them that she was going to use all of her power to bless them and give them powers.

Kinaru begged Nora to remove the curse set upon him, she agreed, but she said, " In exchange for the removal of this curse, you must agree to another," Kinaru was scared of what she might say, so he grit his teeth, and nodded. "All of your family, who contain your blood, must lose their right arm and left leg and have them replaced by machines, however, the curse is only sealed when the member of the Elrictosus performs alchemy. After then, it may be years before the curse takes effect. And thus, I give you the power of alchemy without a transmutation circle or clap-charging (clapping your hands and transmuting)." This was a great gift because no Lombax can perform alchemy. "I also give you the Nora stone, or _Nemonyen_. It is one-thousand times more powerful than any philosopher's stone. Take these gifts and pass them down to the last son." She waved her left hand and Kinaru's right arm and left leg were replaced with machines and his irises of his eyes had turned to gold, and around his neck was a metal necklace with a sapphire-blue gem pendant on it. Nora then turned to Reynolis and Janice. Both were nervous after what Nora had done with Kinaru.

Nora said, "The power I must give you, cannot be contained in the forms you have now." She turned her head over her left shoulder, and called, "Milo! Jasmine!" A raccoon and a fox walked out from behind a pillar. Nora took a hair from both of the animals, she placed the raccoon hair on Reynolis's forehead, and placed the fox hair on Janice's forehead.

Both of the hairs began to glow with a brilliant light. Reynolis was engulfed in a brilliant blue light, and Janice, red. Their ears grew shorter, their tails became thick and bushy, their feet became narrow. Reynolis's tail became gray-and-black striped. The entirety of Janice's underside became white, and she grew long black hair. Her eyes changed to a blue color, and Reynolis's, brown. When the transformation was complete, Nora said, "Your powers are to be that of the thief, you and your descendants will develop techniques for the cat soldiers and for the new generations." She then handed Reynolis a medium-sized, hardback book, on the cover, in letters of gold, read,

_Thievius_

_Raccoonus_

"This is the book that the Cooper line will write the thieving techniques that you will learn in your lifetimes." She then handed out a four-foot-long staff. The handle was about three feet long and made of dark brown wood. The last foot of the staff was made of a golden metal, and it was in a _C _shape. "This cane, along with the _Thievius_ _Raccoonus_, shall be passed down to the children of your family, down to the last son." Reynolis took the cane, and nodded. She then turned to Janice and pulled out another four- foot-long staff. The handle was about three feet long and made of redwood. The last foot of the staff was made of a golden metal, and it was in a _f_ shape. "This staff shall be passed down to the children of your family, down to the last daughter." Janice took the staff, and like Reynolis, nodded.

Giana Nora then turned to Trinara, who had been waiting patiently. "Trinara, I must use the last of my power to give you my blessing, and so, I give you the gift of song.

Now, do not take this gift lightly, for it has the power to bring victory in a battle, turn an evil spirit into a good soul, and even to bring the dead to life. To use this power, you must gain the Lombaxian flame."

Nora now held a handful of bright red fire. She gently blew on it and it slowly curled up into Trinara's center. As she absorbed the fire, her eyes turned emerald green. Strangely, it didn't burn her, though she was now warm after absorbing the fire. "You now have the Lombaxian flame. However, not all members of your family line will inherit the fire. Only those who have true spirit will gain it and the superstrength attribute. Somewhere on Lombaxia, there is a secret vault, containing the _Firus Phoenixio_, the great songbook. Do not search for this book, for it will only be found by one of your descendants, the one who fulfills this prophecy.

_The fire book,_

_found it shall be_,

_by the chosen Lombaxian_

_who shall become king_

"There will be only one fire phoenix in each generation, down to the last child."

Once again, Nora turned toward Reynolis. She pulled out the feather that Eris had left behind, "Reynolis, you must protect this feather with your life." She handed him the feather, and Reynolis bowed respectfully. "From this day henceforth, you and any children with your blood within them, will be known as the four clans, and you will defend our morals with your lives." And with those words, she disappeared.

The four Lombaxi discovered that they each now had a special symbol on different parts of their bodies. For Reynolis, it was a blue raccoon-head symbol on his left wrist, for Janice it was the red version of the Cooper symbol on her right wrist. For Kinaru it was the red flameli behind his left ear. And for Trinara, she had a red phoenix with fire on two sides on her right palm.

The Lombaxi decided to split up and set up homes of their own away from the temple. They decided to name the temple based on the words they found carved into a wall,

_Middle Ground  
_

_

* * *

_What do you think? Read and respond pls!_  
_


	2. Chapter 2: Destiny

**Disclaimer: **I do not own anything in this fanfic except for May Wingyon and Giana Nora

On with the fic!

* * *

After the great lombaxi received their blessings from Giana Nora, they disappeared into separate corners of the Earth. Reynolis, along with Milo, the raccoon, set up a mansion two-hundred miles south of what would later be, Paris. Janice, along with Jasmine, the fox, set up a traveler's house in the silverwood forest somewhere in China. Kinaru set up an underground library in the "valley of the eight elements", so that he could perfect his alchemy and someday, bring Giana Nora back. Trinara went deep into the Egyptian desert, (Note: I do not own The Mummy, I am just borrowing some of the concepts) she set up a tomb and filled it with all sorts of traps, death spikes, salt acid, flesh-eating scarab beetles, the works. There she could sing, and perfect her technique for later generations.

Thirty years passed, Reynolis and Janice both had kids who had grown up, Slytankhamen Cooper and Nerfertiri Fox. One night, Reynolis was sent a dream, it said to meet with Janice, set up a workshop, and wait for the messenger. Now, Reynolis was blessed with great intelligence, even by today's standards, and for those thirty years, he had helped develop the technology used by the cat soldiers. However, not all things are as they seem. By sheer coincidence, Janice was sent the same dream. They set up the workshop somewhere near Giza, near where the great pyramids were just beginning construction. Reynolis and Janice had both brought their kids so that they might get a chance to glimpse Nora's messenger.

One night, six months after they arrived in Egypt, a mysterious cloaked visitor came to Reynolis and Janice's workshop, he introduced himself as "Werk". He also claimed that he was the messenger from their dreams.

When he said that, Reynolis and Janice immediately invited him in. Werk then took off the cloak that hid his features, he looked to be no older than twenty years of age. His skin was gray-colored, his short hair was black, and his strange, pupil-less irises were bright yellow. He said that he was weak and dying, he wanted Reynolis and Janice to make a body of metal for him, so that he could "continue on serving …. her." Reynolis and Janice, being trusting souls, agreed.

According to legend, before the night was through, a giant, metal, robotic owl had been constructed for Werk. Reynolis had used Nora's feather as a power source. Werk crawled into the cockpit of the machine, attached himself to it, and activated it. The Machine was called the Clock-1, it was equipped with all sorts of weapons, electric shock spheres, electro-rings, and hypno-eyes. So, you can imagine what the son of Eris could do with such a mech. Werk then turned to the two lombaxi and said through the Clock-1's speakers, " Thank you, Cooper and Fox, now with this new body I can serve Eris!" Reynolis and Janice were shocked by this announcement.

Legend has it that Werk then used his razor-sharp talons to kill Janice. Then Werk advanced on Reynolis, jumped up, and sliced right through Reynolis's chest. At the same time, Slytankamen and Nerfertiri had decided to return home. They were walking down the road home, when they saw what looked like a giant, robotic, owl come bursting out of their parent's workshop roof. The owl shouted, "BEHOLD! CLOCKWERK IS BORN!"

Nerfertiri just stood there, dumbfounded, while Slytankamen ran into the workshop. He saw his father, on the ground, back propped against the wall, dying. He had drawn a Y-shape onto the ground with his own blood. His son ran to his side with a questioning look. "Sending" is a way for family members to communicate without talking, they focus the words in their minds and then "send" the words, and in sending, there is only truth. Reynolis sent, The Cooper and Fox lines will join. Slytankamen then asked, Who is the joining point? After a long pause, Reynolis finally said weakly, "His name, is David," and died.

Nerfertiri had been in the workshop long enough to hear Reynolis's final words. "David huh," Slytankamen jumped at the sound of her voice. His surprise quickly turned to anger, "Your mother probably thought that that Clockwerk thing was some messenger of Nora, or something," Nerfertiri was shocked that a lifelong friend would turn on her like that, her shock turned to anger. "Well, I say that your dad was the one who thought it."

They continued arguing for hours, each thinking that the other's parent was to blame for both their deaths. After a few hours, each agreed that they had to go out into the world to become master thieves, Slytenkamen took his father's cane and the _Thevious Raccoonus _and Nerfertiri took her mother's staff. Then they both left to be a better thief than the other. And thus, began the Cooper-Fox rivalry.

This is the story that all lombax children have been told over countless generations. It was all told by legend brought together by firsthand experience and carvings.

After Slytenkamen and Nerfertiri went their separate ways, the location of middle ground faded from the memories of Trinara and Kinaru. Kinaru traveled to a country in a different dimension named Amestris to try to become what is known as the Philosopher from the East, while Trinara went to space to travel and to prepare for "the chosen Lombaxian who would become king." The Cooper-Fox rivalry continued for over 5,000 years, for 300 generations of thieves, until the year 1990. On February 21st, four lombax babies were born at the exact same moment. They were born to the members of a team of heroes known as the "Eight Archers".

In the silverwood forest in China, a half-lombax girl named Carmelita was born to Ryan Loban and Anne Fox. Ryan was a full-lombax, so the child they had would have the endurance, hearing, and senses of a lombax, while was to be taught the techniques of the thief.

Two-hundred miles north of Paris, a half-lombax boy was born to the leader of the eight archers, "One scar" Jake Cooper and Penny Elrictosu. The boy would be called Slyen Synoristas Cooper a.k.a. Sly, and along with the abilities of a lombax and of a Cooper, he would also inherit half of the Elrictosu curse.

On Lombaxia, in the palace of the king, a lombax girl was born to Nora and Daniel Wingyon. She would be called May Wingyon.

Five-thousand miles north of the Royal city, in a small house, a lombax boy was born to Robert "kaden" Noya and Lana Lombaxian, the Lombaxian Phoenix. Then the boy opened his eyes, they were green. Three days passed by, and, like all lombax children, he was walking and talking by then, but he didn't have a name. He walked in on his parents arguing about names, and then he got into Lana's tools. The boy had picked up a tool and had asked his mother what it was, Lana looked at him and immediately thought up his name.

The boy would be named after the tool he had picked up. His name would be Ratchet Lombaxian.

* * *

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaand cue the jaw drop!

Didn't see that one coming didja?

GN out!


	3. Chapter 3: Ratchet

Anturah! I'm back! Sorry about the cliffhanger guys, I had to find a way to connect the story line without sounding corny, youll see.

_this_- words in the lombax language

this- words in another language

**this**- "sent" via thought link

_this_- Untranslated lombax language

**Disclaimer**: I dont own any copyrighted comany names or products that are mentioned in this fanfic, so stop looking!

**Claimer:** I do own any original storylines that I can come up with.

**Note**: profiles for my origuinal characters will be posted on my profile when they come up. So on with the fic!

**

* * *

**

**Chapter three: Ratchet**

Late one night, six months after Ratchet was born, for the first time in two years, Lana and Robert's thief senses became active. They jumped out of bed and could sense that something was wrong, and at that moment, so could Ratchet. He got out of bed, and walked slowly to the living room that his parents were sitting and talking in hushed voices by the light of an oil lamp (there was no electricity in the house).

Then, he could hear a noise like a metallic heartbeat, it was faint, but he and his parents could hear it. When Lana and Robert's ears first picked up the sound, their ears pricked up, they became tense and high-strung.

Lana pulled out of a slit in her right wrist, a three-inch-long strung bow and a quiver of arrows. She squeezed it, and they became life-sized. Robert did the same thing with his left wrist. Ratchet was watching all this around a corner, all the while wondering when would be the right time to come out. All of a sudden, the heartbeat stopped. Ratchet then walked out from around the corner, his mother noticed him and said, "_Ratchet! What are you doing up?! You should be asleep!_" He never got a chance to answer. Because just then, the wall behind his parents was smashed to bits, the oil lamp fell to the floor and caught the floorboards on fire, but that isn't what froze Ratchet with fear, it was a giant robotic owl. "_Clockwerk!_" yelled Robert with equal parts anger and fear in his voice.

What happened then, Ratchet would remember until the day he died. His father's life was quickly extinguished by Clockwerk's claws, his mother drew and shot an arrow directly at the owl's wing joint, thus drawing the monster's attention to her. What he saw then, seemed to happen in slow motion. Clockwerk drew back his talons, and swiftly and smoothly, sliced through her midsection. As she lay on the floor, she whispered something to her son, _"Be brave my son, be brave and be strong_," and with those words, she died.

Ratchet then felt two emotions, one after the other, the first was shock, the second was pure, indescribable, terror, he had made the one mistake you should never make when facing clockwerk, next to underestimating him, he had looked directly into his eyes. Those who look into his eyes soon regret they had, they are paralyzed by the light coming from those deadly yellow circles and are quickly cut down by his claws.

Ratchet stared into those eyes for about a minute, all the while thinking "_Any minute now he's going to kill me, I've gotta break free._" He quickly broke free of those eyes's grasp and ran back to his room. When he got there, a burst of flame flared toward his back, he felt a sharp burning sensation and then nothing. He gathered what few personal belongings he had, his pilot's hat and a picture of his family, broke the window, jumped outside, and ran as far as his legs could carry him. He was about half a mile from his home when he stopped on a small hill and turned around in time to see his family's murderer fly off laughing, "WELL, THAT TAKES CARE OF THE LOMBAXIANS!!"

Ratchet turned and looked at his burning home, and let the reality of his situation sink in. He was a three-month-old orphan with no home and no money, not to mention the village he was near wasn't the friendliest village on Lombaxia, and he was all alone in the entire universe. He recalled his mother's words, and started walking toward the village of nintrona.

_Nine months later..._

"_Stop! Thief!_" Those words echoed through the desert village of nintrona. It's residents got out of the way as Andrew, a local fruit merchant with gyay fur and a hulking frame, chased a small boy who had just taken a bag of apples, a boy with yellow fur, brown stripes, and green eyes. That boy was Ratchet. "_Hey! I said stop kid!" "No thanks! I want to keep living if you don't mind!_" Ratchet's then smiled the way he does when he has a sneaky plan.

He then turned into an alleyway that held a dumpster and a dead end into a fence. He ran and pried open the boards of the fence, five seconds later, Andrew rounded the corner and saw that the fence had been pried away, he went to try to head off the boy at the other end of the alley. With a quiet creaking noise, the lid on the dumpster slowly lifted up, as Ratchet looked to see if the coast was clear. "_Heh heh heh, oldest trick in the book,_" he laughed to himself.

He opened the bag and took out an apple and looked at the calendar he had pinned to the wall of the dumpster.

"_December 25__th__? That means that today is my birthday. Hmm, there has got to be something better than this, stealing just enough to stay alive, running away from Andrew the hulk, I've gotta get out of here._" Out of the garbage, he pulled out a map of lombaxia and jumped out of the dumpster.

Now, Lombaxia is divided into six "bands", each one circling around the planet. Starting at the north, they are the ice cap, the mountain band, the desert band, the forest band, the meadow band, and the noraflower fields, with a sea 300 miles wide, stretching from the ice cap to the noraflower fields. Ratchet was in the middle of the desert band.

"_Let's see, my best bet would be in the meadow band, __where the royal city is. But I would need to go through the forest band, and that place is no picnic, not to mention it's five-thousand miles from here. But, If it's my only shot..._"

He began to start packing up his stuff, when a huge shadow fell over Ratchet, the owner of the shadow said "_Goin' somewhere boy?_" Ratchet turned and looked at who the owner was, it was Andrew. As he started talking, Ratchet started very slowly inching towards the exit of the alleyway. "_Uh, yes I'd would very much like to talk over things with you but as you can see, I really have to go so, uh, bye!_" , and when he finished talking, he ran like Clockwerk was on his heels once more.

Ratchet ran as far as he could run and looked back at the village, the path he had taken wound through several narrow alleyways, packed crowds, and the bazaar. "_Heh, that oughta keep him busy for a while._" Ratchet froze as he saw where the path he had taken took him to. He was standing outside the burned wreck of his old home. One of the walls had caved in and everything inside was burned and destroyed. The morning after his parents were killed, he came back and

buried their remains behind the house."_So, I'm back here again, I should at least say goodbye._" He had propped up a tombstone for both of his parents and had put a picture of them together between the graves. He kneeled down in front of the graves and said, "_Mom, Dad, I'm going to the meadow band to look for more opportunities for a better life, I promise I'll be back someday, but only after I make you proud of me. Anewetha_."

And so, he turned and started to head south, he had made it a half mile when he could have sworn that he heard a voice on the wind saying, "_Noraspeed my son_"

* * *

I know, I know, my ideas of nintrona was taken from the movie Aladdin, and as was my concept of Ratchet as a kid. 

Did you notice? Of course I cut the chase scene a little short. Of course the map of Lombaxia is of my own imagining. Translations will be posted down here for reference.

Anewetha: goodbye

It will take some time to complete the next chapter so bear with me, until then, Anewetha!


	4. Chapter 4: May

Anturah! My apologies for being so late with the update, I had limited time and writers block. In between homework, senior projects, and my mod world problems threatening me with holding me back, I didn' t have much time for the fanfic.

GN: Lana, if you would do the honors.

Lana: With pleasure, **GN does not own any copyrighted characters or situation in this fanfiction.** Oh and GN, why did you kill me off?

GN: Well, I, uh. ON WITH THE FIC!!

* * *

this is in the lombax language

this is translated from another language

'this' is a thought

**this** is sent via thought link

_this_ is untranslated lombax language

**Chapter 4: May**

It had taken a month, but Ratchet was relieved to finally see the rooftops of the royal city come into view. His food had run out three days before and water six before that, not to mention it was night, so the exaustion combined with his sleepiness added to his hunger ment that he was ready to pass out at any given moment. But he knew that he had aquire food and shelter before that happened. Before he left the desert band, he promised himself that he would never steal food from merchants lest he recreate the "Andrew incident". Right now he was starting to regret that promise, but he kept to his promise and decided to instead search the dumpsters for food and water.

_"Damn, nothing in this one too,"_ he said as he came to the sixth dumpster that night. Suddenly he heard a sound behind him, he turned to see a night-black lombax standing about six feet away from him with a smug look on his face. He couldn't be any older than fifteen, but yet the lombax looked like he had seen more than his fair share of violence. _"Who are you,"_ asked Ratchet_. "The name's Rothford, but I should be the one asking the questions here, striper."_ And with that, the lombax known as Rothford clicked his fingers, and two lombaxi jumped out of the dumpster that Ratchet was looking through, and landed on the edge shinobi-style. This surprised Ratchet so much that he fell flat on his back, flipped over, and started running. He made it fifty feet before he heard Rothford's voice, dripping with malice say_ "Get him."_

In all of his life, even when he was running from Clockwerk, Ratchet had never been this scared or would ever be. The skill that he had picked up from running from Andrew had given him considerable skill, and he was doing great for the first hundred feet, then he reached a dead end in the alley. _"Dead end striper," _Ratchet turned around to see Rothford and his cronies standing about five feet away from him. Before he could even blink, the two of Rothford's cronies each had one of his arms pinned to the alley wall. He knew what was coming, especially by the look in Rothford's eyes, the one that said that he wanted the yearling lombax dead.

After about five minutes later, Ratchet was in more pain than he had ever felt in his life. The two lombaxi finally let go of his arms and he collapsed to the ground_. "Go stand guard," _Rothford ordered and the two obeyed. He then picked up the young lombax by the neck and held him at eye-level. _"Everyone knows better than to come into my part of town, especially your type," _he said slowly tightening his grip on Ratchet's throat. He responded _"I thought...that the city...belonged to...the king."_ He was starting to feel lightheaded, the lack of energy and the beating he had recieved from Rothford was starting to take it's toll, not to mention the lack of air. Rothford had clearly not liked that last comment, and pulled his fist back for one final hit. Suddenly, both of them heard noises of a struggle coming from the end of the alley. However, to Ratchet it sounded distorted and his vision was fading out of focus. Then, all of a sudden, Rothford dropped Ratchet. The last thing Ratchet saw was a pair of beautiful silver eyes before everything went black.

Alone, Ratchet was all alone. There was nothing but darkness all around. _"Where...am I," _he asked to nobody. He sensed something behind him. He turned to see the one thing he had hoped to never see again, Clockwerk. He wanted to run, to cry for help, to do something, but he was frozen in his footsteps. "You are weak little lombaxian pheonix. Too weak to be allowed to live," he said in a strange language that Ratchet somehow understood. The owl drew back his claws and hit the boy with a loud BAM.

He sat bolt upright from lying down. He had been asleep after passing out. _"Just a dream, it was just a dream."_ He then began to take in his surroundings. He was in a one-person bed, in what appeared to be a two-room shack. It was surprisingly clean, as if the person who lived here took good care of the place. But what had Ratchet's attention was the pain coming from his body, and the bandages wrapped around his wounds. Someone must have carried him here and tended to his wounds, but who? His wondering was interrupted when he heard a voice that made him jump, _"So you're finally awake then."_ He quickly turned to see an older male lombax with white fur and silver stripes. _"Sorry if I scared you." _His voice was very kind, unlike the voices that Ratchet was used to. _"Why did...you help me?"_ Ratchet asked. _"What do you mean, should I have just left you in that alley?"_ responded the stranger. _"That's how our species has survived all this time, we protect each other."_ No one had ever spoken like that to him, not since his parents had died.

_"By the way, my name is Gin, Gin Tsubasa, but you can call me Gin-san." _

_"Gin-san?" _

_"Yeah, it basically translates to silver wings in japanese."_

_"Japanese? What's that?" _asked the young lombax.

_"It's an earth language, it's one of many different-"_

_"You're from Earth!?"_

Gin was surprised by the young one's enthusiasm, especially after an event like the one he had just expierienced.

_"Yes, I was a cat soldier stationed at-"_

_"You were a cat soldier?!"_

_"Yes, as I was saying, I was stationed at the C.S.T.C., or the cat soldier training camp, I was a teacher. Does that answer your question?"_

_"Yes Gin-san."_

The two sat across fom each other for a moment before Gin spoke up.

_"So kid, you got a name?"_

_"Um, it's Ratchet, Ratchet Lombaxian."_

_"It's nice to meet you Ratchet, and welcome to the royal city."_

_"Do you live here by yourself Gin-san?"_

_"For the most part, yeah. But a friend of mine visits me everyday."_

Gin then perked his ears up as if he had heard something.

_"Ah! There she is now."_

Ratchet heard a door open and slam outside of the room he and Gin were in, and then...

_"Hey Gin-san! The kid up yet?"_

The voice was clearly feminine, and had a kind edge to it.

_"Yeah, he's up."_

She then entered the room that the two were in. She looked to be about Ratchet's age. She was wearing an ice-blue tank top that was almost white, a pair of moody-blue capris (think Tenten from Naruto), and a pair of white stealth shoes (think Sly) with gloves (again, think Sly) that matched her tank top. But what really caught Ratchet's attention was the fact that her fur was bright pink (think Sakura from Naruto). She had her ears curved back and she had a kind look on her face as she examined him. All he had with him was a pair of ragged jeans and a pilots hat that was too big for him.

She walked over to them, and then got really close to Ratchet and tok a good looong look at him, her face only a couple of inches from his own. He felt a blush growing on his face as he realized how pretty she was. Then he realized something, the last thing that he saw before he passed out was a pair of silver eyes, Gin's eyes were blue, but this girl's were... _"Silver," _he said without thinking, and then his blush grew deeper when he realized he had said that aloud.

_"Hmmm?" _she asked.

_"Um, the last thing that I saw before I passed out was silver eyes, sorry if I confused you."_

_"Well, that's understandable, seeing as how eyes like mine are rare, even in our species, and as how it was that both me and Gin-san here saved you from that Rothford jerk." _she said, pulling back a few inches. _"You're new here, aren't you?"_

_"Um, yeah. I'm from the desert band."_

_"What about your parents?"_

Ratchet turned his head at this question and said, _"They're...not around anymore." _and the girl left it at that.

_"What's your name anyway?"_

_"I'ts Ratchet."_

She closed her eyes and smiled and said, _"My name's May Wingyon, welcome to the meadow band Ratchet." _

* * *

Enter May!

Please give a round of applause for my O.C., the kind yet feisty May Wingyon! My alter ego! i will be posting her and Ratchet's details on my profile.

**ATTENTION DEVIANTS!! **I am offering a contest as to who can draw the best picture of May and Ratchet's encounter! The winner will get their picture on my profile AND I will keep a link to their Deviantart profile and the picture in a permadent spot on my profile. I will have a contest whenever a new opportunity comes up. Please review!

Next chapter: Noraflowers?


End file.
